I often find myself asking that question: do you really need all those branch offices?
Think what happens when organisations implement our method.
Salespeople don’t need an office anymore: they’re always in the field performing appointments. The scheduling of salespeople is centralised (that’s sales coordinators). There’s a whole bunch of reasons why you mustn’t *ever* co-locate regional salespeople and sales coordinators.
So, what’s left in the branch office?
- Customer service (phone-based account management)
- Inventory
- Reception
Does it make sense for account management to be in the branch office? Absolutely not. The reality is that account management personnel can provide better customer service when they’re in head office (close to production). What’s more, when you aggregate account management, you need less account managers (to provide the same level of service *without* sacrificing protective capacity).
But you need inventory, right?
Wrong! Use a logistics provider. Sure distribution costs will go up, but just wait until you calculate how much money you save when you close your branch office.
What about reception?
Well, without salespeople in the branch office, or account managers, or inventory, what do we need reception for? To water the plants?
So we don’t need reception. And now we don’t need a branch office anymore! But that’s not all. Now we can afford to operate in locations where previously it wasn’t justifiable.
What about the concern that customers will want you to have a local presence? The reality is, they don’t care. It’s not like they take the long way home from work every day just so they can drive past your office!
The thing is, with your salespeople in the field all day, every day you’re delivering more customer face-time than you ever did in the past!
